A Piccadilly mansion where Lord Byron once lived and wrote some of his most famous works has gone on the market for £29.5 million.
The grade II-listed townhouse, set over six floors and comprising of 14,000 square foot of space, is located in one of London’s most affluent neighbourhoods, overlooking Green Park in Mayfair.
The residence, which newly-married Lord Byron bought back in 1815, has been used as an office building in recent years, but is being sold with planning permission for conversion back into a family home.
Big enough for up to eight bedrooms, agents estimate that the building could be worth as much as £70 million once the refurbishment is complete – which could end up costing £15 million in itself.
The house was built between 1760 and 1764 and became Byron’s London’s home where he wrote some of his most famous works, including his tragic verse Parsinia and his narrative poem, The Seige of Corinth.
A Piccadilly mansion where Lord Byron once lived and wrote some of his most famous works has gone on the market for £29.5 million
The grade II-listed townhouse, set over six floors and comprising of 14,000 square foot of space, is located in one of London’s most affluent areas, overlooking Green Park in Mayfair
The house was built between 1760 and 1764 and became Byron’s London’s home where he wrote some of his most famous works, including Parsinia and The Seige of Corinth
Less than a year after moving into the home, the poet, whose daughter Ada was born at the house, was beset by scandal amid persistent rumours of a relationship with Augusta Leigh, his half-sister.
His distressed wife, Annabella Milbanke, famously left him by walking down the steps of the house in full public view and into a waiting carriage with the child in her arms.
Not long after that, Byron fled the country, never to return.
He went on to die a national hero in Greece after the First and Second Seige of Missolonghi in 1824 amid the nation’s war of independence against the Ottoman Empire.
Later occupants included Baron and Baroness d’Erlanger, French merchant bankers.
Baroness Catherine d’Erlanger, who established a salon in the property which hosted poetry readings in the drawing room, was attended by the likes of Winston and Clementine Churchill, WB Yeats, the Duchess of York (later the Queen Mother) and society photographer Cecil Beaton, who took a portrait of Catherine in the drawing room in 1930.
The residence, which Lord Byron bought in 1815, has been used as an office building in recent years, but is being sold with planning permission for conversion back into a family home
Big enough for up to eight bedrooms, agents estimate that the building could be worth as much as £70 million once the refurbishment is complete
The refurbishment itself could end up costing £15 million
Later occupants included Baron and Baroness d’Erlanger, French merchant bankers
A light-filled living space makes up part of the impressive property
Peter Wetherell, founder and chairman of agents Wetherell, which is handling the sale, said: ‘The provenance of this Piccadilly mansion building overlooking Green Park is outstanding.
‘It was once the London home of poet Lord Byron and during the 1920s and 1930s was the Mayfair private palace of French heiress Baroness Catherine d’Erlanger, one of the richest women in Europe at the time.
‘Now a buyer has the opportunity to close the circle and bring this landmark building back to life.’
The Mayfair listing came as a new survey showed sales in the elite district priced at more than £10 million doubled this year with total proceeds up from £123 million to £313 million.
Figures compiled by agents Beauchamp Estates showed that the upsurge in the Mayfair super-prime residential market has been driven by American and Middle East buyers, in particular clients from Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
There are four sizeable garages included within the sale, located on nearby Down Street Mews
Far-reaching views over Green Park are available from the luxury property
Floor plans show each floor has exceptional floorplates of circa. 2,500 sq ft
During 2023 the average value and size of house sold in Mayfair has been £25.5 million and 10,976 sqft respectively, significantly up on 2022 when the figures were £14.5 million and 5,272 sqft respectively.
Gary Hersham, founding director of Beauchamp Estates says: ‘During 2023 the Mayfair super-prime housing market has boomed, Mayfair is currently the most sought after address in prime central London for wealthy home buyers from around the world.
‘Beauchamp Estates has completed a dozen big deals for super-prime homes in the district over the last few months with most of our clients choosing to purchase large lateral apartments.
‘The £10 million plus deals landscape in Mayfair has been dominated by American and Middle East buyers who have undertaken cash purchases and taken advantage of preferential exchange rates for dollar buyers.’